What is italic and how to use it: 12 practical tips
We have already written that typography and its selection have a great influence on the quality of the mailing in particular (and life in general ). Of course, when choosing the main font for writing, you need to focus on its readability (we told here which fonts and their characteristics are most popular with well-known brands creating mailing lists).
However, as in any high-quality text, it is important to place accents in the newsletter - including visual ones (why it is so important and how to do it, read this topic ). Italics can perfectly cope with this task, which will be discussed in the material from the resource Typogrpaphy.com - we present to your attention its adapted translation.
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Italics are probably the brightest part of any font family, standing out from their fellows. Below we describe the 12 types of cursive fonts, along with a description of their cultural and historical heritage and practical application.
Unlike a direct font, italics are more like handwritten text. As in the handwritten text, with which we compile shopping lists or official invitations, different types of italics can reflect perfectly different moods. Understanding the features of cursive fonts can make them a valuable tool in the hands of a designer.
Some calligraphy masters believe that italics reached its heyday in the 16th century in a style known as stationery. These calligraphic styles of letters with thin and thick strokes and sharp corners looking upward were drawn with a wide-pointed pen. Stationery italics for a long time was considered an element of luxury, which allowed express joy in a wedding invitation or touching in a collection of poems. For example, we took a nice style Requiem Italic.
Tip : Since graceful, elongated detailing elements are used in italic type, the line spacing should be increased.
Many “lively” types of italics are made in the style of postmodernism and contain elements of various genres. The basis of this design consists of letters with a fixed width: they are made taking into account the features of direct and handwritten fonts and have a friendly and lax appearance. This typeface has nine degrees of saturation, so that the light and superfat types are very different.
Tip : The eclectic nature of italics Operator recalls the variety of styles included in the headset. The difference between capitals and lowercase letters, or between light and bold fonts, can be no less obvious than between a regular font and italics.
This sophisticated design of letters in traditional English style has nothing to do with the history of font casting. Initially, it was used in mapping - in the names of water bodies. Instead of serifs, the letters have long and smooth "tails" below: they help the eye follow the wavy line of the font, resembling a winding shape of a river or coast. This style can be a great solution for a designer who needs to put a font on a curve, especially in badges and logos, where there are small letters.
Tip : Choose the thickness of the lines in the Surveyor fonts according to the optical size required in the specific conditions. Surveyor Text is more suitable for plain text, Surveyor Display for standard titles, and Surveyor Fine for larger labels.
Old-style Dutch fonts look rich and vibrant at the same time. After its appearance in the 17th century, when the airy Garamond was replaced by a more severe Northern European style, these headsets were more often used in cases where you want to get a dense color and keep the classic look of the text. Their saturation is especially relevant when the text is displayed on a non-contrast background, like a white font on a gray background in the image above.
Tip : Fatty strokes and sweeping curves make headsets like the Quarto a good option for both increasing and decreasing tracking. Inscriptions with widely spaced capital letters, as in the example above, will express solemnity and stateliness, while dense text can be made friendly and more readable.
The spread of posters and posters at the sunset of the Industrial Revolution led to the first bright cursive fonts. These headsets, oddly enough, called “fat”, will look spectacular in any size, if the design is chosen correctly.
Tip : The Surveyor Fine Black Italic font has a decorative counterpart in the Obsidian family. In particular, Obsidian Italic contains the same extensive set of font characters as the Surveyor, including capitals and flourishes.
Italic tilt angles shape his personality. A font slightly tilted at an angle of 6 ° can be gentle and lyrical, but if you tilt it at 15 °, it will immediately become lively. This energetic supercourse is made at the highest possible angle of 28 °, reflecting speed and sharpness. This headset , suitable for both political campaigns and motor sport competitions, is used by designers wherever it is necessary to express unstoppable force. Among other things, the family is complemented by oblique type, tilted to the left, offering an alternative to the direct and italic fonts.
Tip : Despite the dense arrangement of letters by default, the Nitro headset solves the problem non-standardly with the letter spacing. A strong slope sets an energetic pace so that the reader’s gaze moves faster along the line, so that even a tightly knit text will remain coherent and legible.
Capitalized letters with a stroke, which were an element of typography since the first cursive fonts appeared, reached their heyday in old-style French fonts Garamond and Granjon. Although strokes are usually used only at the beginning of a word, many headsets contain curls in uppercase letters. It is important to ensure that the letters with intricate curlicues do not interfere with their neighbors.
Tip : In Hoefler Titling Italic, the C, E, J, K, Q, S, T, X, Y, and Z strokes are designed so as not to interfere with adjacent letters. Roscher in the middle of the words used in the headsets Hoefler Text Italic.
Some cursive fonts resemble handwriting, following the natural movement of the hand; others look like a direct font, made under the slope. Headsets of the new style often contain elements of both, combining smooth transitions between lower case letters with a rather strict capital letters. Such a balance between technical accuracy and aesthetic vitality is popular in applied arts and is especially characteristic of the typography of cultural institutions and architectural objects, but is most often found in the fashion industry .
Tip : “Trendy” typography - both in magazines and in advertising - has long been based on the accuracy and elegance of the HTF Didot headset. In addition to its well-known direct fonts, it is worth paying attention to more rare italics. They express the same depth with easy grace.
Antique style headsets have massive fillet marks — at least their straight fonts. No less original and more rare Antique Italic. Its thick rounds and barely noticeable drop-shaped elements form the texture that distinguishes it from the direct sibling while maintaining the same solidity and boldness of the outline. Universal Antique fonts express not only calm and seriousness, but also warmth and mobility with extremely high saturation, which makes the font bright and catchy.
Tip : Although headsets like Sentinel are often considered incidental, they can also be used successfully in the main text . Given the full range of font saturation, their clear elements and well-developed structure will be clearly visible even in a very small set. Depending on your taste, light, normal and bold type fonts of this family can be taken as the “usual” saturation for the text.
For many grotesques, in accordance with their logic, italics are often too restrained and look like a regular font with a slope. However, when working with more humanistic headsets, it makes sense to choose a different approach that uses italic types that are characteristic of serif typeface design. Speakers and neatly rounded lines on the example above give italic style close to the handwritten.
Tip : A smooth-italic sans serif font can be used in the main text . Ideal Sans Italic includes not only the elements of the handwritten font and oval shapes, but also a closer arrangement of letters compared to the regular font, which gives it a special rhythm.
One way to bridge the gap between the formality of the printed font and the informality of the handwriting is to create mixed forms of letters that combine typographical and calligraphic elements. This approach is applied in Archer Italic, allowing to eliminate a number of contradictions inherent in the original design. The headset should be informative, but not pedantic; attractive but not catchy; nice, but not sugary - the balance arose as a result of mixing strict serifs and smooth tails in one letter. Many noticeable details in the design of lowercase letters, such as the teardrop element in lowercase C, are now used in uppercase letters. This non-standard move further softened the shape of squared font, which could become excessively strict.
Tip : Squared fonts with drop-shaped elements may look unusual with extreme degrees of saturation, often losing balance in the light part of the spectrum and becoming irrelevant with super-thick. Pay attention to the design of the fonts, which at super-light saturation become clear and restrained, and at superfat - rigorous and vigorous. The headset can also be used in plain text - without the need to additionally look for a suitable serif font.
Some of the most interesting types of italics have no historical background at all. The variant presented above disputes the idea that all italicized fonts should have a rounded shape. Such a font can be effectively used in projects where you need to avoid historical links or visual clichés.
Tip : Italics with an unexpected design can produce the desired effect, if used in moderation. More attention is drawn to fonts where this design is used sparingly - from logos and monograms to individual caps.
However, as in any high-quality text, it is important to place accents in the newsletter - including visual ones (why it is so important and how to do it, read this topic ). Italics can perfectly cope with this task, which will be discussed in the material from the resource Typogrpaphy.com - we present to your attention its adapted translation.
')
Italics are probably the brightest part of any font family, standing out from their fellows. Below we describe the 12 types of cursive fonts, along with a description of their cultural and historical heritage and practical application.
Unlike a direct font, italics are more like handwritten text. As in the handwritten text, with which we compile shopping lists or official invitations, different types of italics can reflect perfectly different moods. Understanding the features of cursive fonts can make them a valuable tool in the hands of a designer.
Some calligraphy masters believe that italics reached its heyday in the 16th century in a style known as stationery. These calligraphic styles of letters with thin and thick strokes and sharp corners looking upward were drawn with a wide-pointed pen. Stationery italics for a long time was considered an element of luxury, which allowed express joy in a wedding invitation or touching in a collection of poems. For example, we took a nice style Requiem Italic.
Tip : Since graceful, elongated detailing elements are used in italic type, the line spacing should be increased.
Many “lively” types of italics are made in the style of postmodernism and contain elements of various genres. The basis of this design consists of letters with a fixed width: they are made taking into account the features of direct and handwritten fonts and have a friendly and lax appearance. This typeface has nine degrees of saturation, so that the light and superfat types are very different.
Tip : The eclectic nature of italics Operator recalls the variety of styles included in the headset. The difference between capitals and lowercase letters, or between light and bold fonts, can be no less obvious than between a regular font and italics.
This sophisticated design of letters in traditional English style has nothing to do with the history of font casting. Initially, it was used in mapping - in the names of water bodies. Instead of serifs, the letters have long and smooth "tails" below: they help the eye follow the wavy line of the font, resembling a winding shape of a river or coast. This style can be a great solution for a designer who needs to put a font on a curve, especially in badges and logos, where there are small letters.
Tip : Choose the thickness of the lines in the Surveyor fonts according to the optical size required in the specific conditions. Surveyor Text is more suitable for plain text, Surveyor Display for standard titles, and Surveyor Fine for larger labels.
Old-style Dutch fonts look rich and vibrant at the same time. After its appearance in the 17th century, when the airy Garamond was replaced by a more severe Northern European style, these headsets were more often used in cases where you want to get a dense color and keep the classic look of the text. Their saturation is especially relevant when the text is displayed on a non-contrast background, like a white font on a gray background in the image above.
Tip : Fatty strokes and sweeping curves make headsets like the Quarto a good option for both increasing and decreasing tracking. Inscriptions with widely spaced capital letters, as in the example above, will express solemnity and stateliness, while dense text can be made friendly and more readable.
The spread of posters and posters at the sunset of the Industrial Revolution led to the first bright cursive fonts. These headsets, oddly enough, called “fat”, will look spectacular in any size, if the design is chosen correctly.
Tip : The Surveyor Fine Black Italic font has a decorative counterpart in the Obsidian family. In particular, Obsidian Italic contains the same extensive set of font characters as the Surveyor, including capitals and flourishes.
Italic tilt angles shape his personality. A font slightly tilted at an angle of 6 ° can be gentle and lyrical, but if you tilt it at 15 °, it will immediately become lively. This energetic supercourse is made at the highest possible angle of 28 °, reflecting speed and sharpness. This headset , suitable for both political campaigns and motor sport competitions, is used by designers wherever it is necessary to express unstoppable force. Among other things, the family is complemented by oblique type, tilted to the left, offering an alternative to the direct and italic fonts.
Tip : Despite the dense arrangement of letters by default, the Nitro headset solves the problem non-standardly with the letter spacing. A strong slope sets an energetic pace so that the reader’s gaze moves faster along the line, so that even a tightly knit text will remain coherent and legible.
Capitalized letters with a stroke, which were an element of typography since the first cursive fonts appeared, reached their heyday in old-style French fonts Garamond and Granjon. Although strokes are usually used only at the beginning of a word, many headsets contain curls in uppercase letters. It is important to ensure that the letters with intricate curlicues do not interfere with their neighbors.
Tip : In Hoefler Titling Italic, the C, E, J, K, Q, S, T, X, Y, and Z strokes are designed so as not to interfere with adjacent letters. Roscher in the middle of the words used in the headsets Hoefler Text Italic.
Some cursive fonts resemble handwriting, following the natural movement of the hand; others look like a direct font, made under the slope. Headsets of the new style often contain elements of both, combining smooth transitions between lower case letters with a rather strict capital letters. Such a balance between technical accuracy and aesthetic vitality is popular in applied arts and is especially characteristic of the typography of cultural institutions and architectural objects, but is most often found in the fashion industry .
Tip : “Trendy” typography - both in magazines and in advertising - has long been based on the accuracy and elegance of the HTF Didot headset. In addition to its well-known direct fonts, it is worth paying attention to more rare italics. They express the same depth with easy grace.
Antique style headsets have massive fillet marks — at least their straight fonts. No less original and more rare Antique Italic. Its thick rounds and barely noticeable drop-shaped elements form the texture that distinguishes it from the direct sibling while maintaining the same solidity and boldness of the outline. Universal Antique fonts express not only calm and seriousness, but also warmth and mobility with extremely high saturation, which makes the font bright and catchy.
Tip : Although headsets like Sentinel are often considered incidental, they can also be used successfully in the main text . Given the full range of font saturation, their clear elements and well-developed structure will be clearly visible even in a very small set. Depending on your taste, light, normal and bold type fonts of this family can be taken as the “usual” saturation for the text.
For many grotesques, in accordance with their logic, italics are often too restrained and look like a regular font with a slope. However, when working with more humanistic headsets, it makes sense to choose a different approach that uses italic types that are characteristic of serif typeface design. Speakers and neatly rounded lines on the example above give italic style close to the handwritten.
Tip : A smooth-italic sans serif font can be used in the main text . Ideal Sans Italic includes not only the elements of the handwritten font and oval shapes, but also a closer arrangement of letters compared to the regular font, which gives it a special rhythm.
One way to bridge the gap between the formality of the printed font and the informality of the handwriting is to create mixed forms of letters that combine typographical and calligraphic elements. This approach is applied in Archer Italic, allowing to eliminate a number of contradictions inherent in the original design. The headset should be informative, but not pedantic; attractive but not catchy; nice, but not sugary - the balance arose as a result of mixing strict serifs and smooth tails in one letter. Many noticeable details in the design of lowercase letters, such as the teardrop element in lowercase C, are now used in uppercase letters. This non-standard move further softened the shape of squared font, which could become excessively strict.
Tip : Squared fonts with drop-shaped elements may look unusual with extreme degrees of saturation, often losing balance in the light part of the spectrum and becoming irrelevant with super-thick. Pay attention to the design of the fonts, which at super-light saturation become clear and restrained, and at superfat - rigorous and vigorous. The headset can also be used in plain text - without the need to additionally look for a suitable serif font.
Some of the most interesting types of italics have no historical background at all. The variant presented above disputes the idea that all italicized fonts should have a rounded shape. Such a font can be effectively used in projects where you need to avoid historical links or visual clichés.
Tip : Italics with an unexpected design can produce the desired effect, if used in moderation. More attention is drawn to fonts where this design is used sparingly - from logos and monograms to individual caps.
Other materials on the subject of design and typography from Pechkin :
- 3 tips on proper use of fonts in emails
- How to design a mailing list that is not annoying: 10 simple tips
- Interfaces: How not to do the option of unsubscribing from the email-list
- Interfaces: How to create forms for subscribing to email newsletters and alerts
- Experiment: Should I use forms in email
- How-to: Typography in the design of email-letters
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/306688/
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